Ford Canada hits the brakes on being part of Ford Nation

After around four and a half hours, Mayor Rob Ford ran out of Rob Ford bobbleheads to sign on Tuesday.

But that didn’t stop some residents from lining up to meet the mayor and have him sign other items including Rob Ford magnets, a laptop and “Ford Nation” T-shirts. A group of people were in City Hall trying to cash in on the mayor’s appearance by selling the T-shirts to Ford fans.

The shirts featured the Ford Motor Co. logo – a trademark infringement many were quick to point out on social media.

Ford signed the shirts that were put in front of him and didn’t comment on the Ford logo.

The T-shirts prompted a quick reply from Ford Canada via Twitter:

Ford Motor Company did not grant permission for the use of its logo and thank you for bringing this to our attention.

It wasn’t clear who was selling the T-shirts. Before I could interview the sellers, they were kicked out of City Hall by security – you can’t walk into the building and start selling stuff, even “Ford Nation” shirts.

Mayor Rob Ford is expected to be selling Ford Nation T-shirts Wednesday for $20 each to support the United Way.

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Don Peat

Don Peat is the City Hall bureau chief for the Toronto Sun. He covers municipal affairs at Toronto City Hall, a beat that has him writing about everything from garbage to transit to taxes to multimillion-dollar spending scandals.